we are never done with thinking about our parents, I suppose, and come to know them better long after they are dead than we ever did when they were alive.

in the very long run any success devours - and perhaps also corrupts.

And I refuse to feel guilty about not letter-writing either. There are times when one can, times when one can't. In the times when an enormous amount of living is going on, one can't.

Solitude is one thing and loneliness is another.

Where joy in an old pencil is not absurd.

Do I think there's life after death? No, I think my books are my life after death.

instant intimacy was too often followed by disillusion.